Republicans Seek to Divert IRS Enforcement Funding Boost for Border Security
House Republicans have released a draft bill that would halt the nearly $50 billion funding boost for Internal Revenue Service (IRS) enforcement in the “Inflation Reduction Act” and instead use the money to bolster border security.
Called the “Diverting IRS Resources to the Exigent Crisis Through (DIRECT) Funds for Border Security Act” (pdf), the legislation seeks to stop “Biden’s new IRS army from launching audits of middle-class families” and instead use the funds to hire more U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents, according to a press release.
“The Biden administration’s failure to secure the border and enforce our immigration laws has created an unmitigated disaster at our Southern Border that is impacting communities across the country,” Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.), co-sponsor of the bill, said in a statement.
Calling President Joe Biden’s priorities “twisted,” Tenney alleged that the president and Congressional Democrats were ignoring the problem at the southern border and were “instead giving tens of billions of dollars to the IRS, not to improve its services but so they can audit an additional 700,000 working-class Americans.”
Republicans have accused the Biden administration of earmarking funds to hire an additional 87,000 IRS agents, some of whom would be used to target lower and middle-income Americans with audits.
Biden administration officials have insisted there would not be an increase in audit rates among Americans earning less than $400,000 per year.
“I direct that any additional resources—including any new personnel or auditors that are hired—shall not be used to increase the share of small business or households below the $400,000 threshold that are audited relative to historical levels,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in an Aug. 10 letter to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig.
Yellen said enforcement resources would instead focus on “high-end compliance” and that small businesses and households earning $400,000 per year
" Conservative News Daily does not always share or support the views and opinions expressed here; they are just those of the writer."
